John Jeavons
Grow the Earth. Grow Biointensive. Grow Abundance.
Category: interesting practices
Exotic Additions: Perennial Vegetables
With winter setting in and visions of lush spring gardens already dancing in our heads, here is something to intrigue and inspire you or your favorite gardener: a book/DVD combination on how to grow 100+ perennial vegetables. From asparagus, rhubarb, and ramps to taro,… Continue Reading “Exotic Additions: Perennial Vegetables”
Miraculous Abundance: 1/4 Acre, Two French Farmers, and Enough Food to Feed the World
For years, scientists and practitioners of sustainable agriculture have been aware that our food chain is vulnerable. Soil depletion, resource scarcity, population growth, and the many and varied impacts of global climate disruption can and do impact our ability to grow and source food.… Continue Reading “Miraculous Abundance: 1/4 Acre, Two French Farmers, and Enough Food to Feed the World”
What to Read Now: Warm Climate Gardening
It’s winter here in the northern hemisphere, and farmers and gardeners everywhere are dreaming and planning about what to plant in the spring and summer! While all gardens have their challenges, those who grow food and flowers in warm and/or arid climates need a… Continue Reading “What to Read Now: Warm Climate Gardening”
Foraged Flavor: Finding Our Culinary Roots in Wild Food
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that everything we buy or grow to eat now was once a wild species. Our ancestors have done the bulk of the work identifying and domesticating the foods we now take for granted in our gardens and stores. But… Continue Reading “Foraged Flavor: Finding Our Culinary Roots in Wild Food”
Back to Our Roots: How Learning from Prehistoric Agriculture Can Help Grow the Future
A healthy, productive agriculture relies on LIVING SOIL – truly the most important resource in the world. We live in a time of when healthy, living, farmable soil—as well as farming nutrients in organic and synthetic fertilizer form, fresh water, and energy—are all diminishing in… Continue Reading “Back to Our Roots: How Learning from Prehistoric Agriculture Can Help Grow the Future”
Gardening Without Poisons: A Constructive Answer to the Pesticide Problem
According to Wikipedia, human agriculture arose independently in at least eleven regions of the old and new world dating back to at least 20,000 BCE. Use of irrigation, crop rotation, and fertilizers began in the Neolithic age, but were greatly refined and expanded over… Continue Reading “Gardening Without Poisons: A Constructive Answer to the Pesticide Problem”
Maybe Read This: Experiments with Plants, 6th Edition
As a farmer and a researcher, I am constantly reminded that agriculturalists from earlier times are often the best teachers. Experiments with Plants (6th ed.) written in 1911 by Harvard Associate Professor of Botany Dr. W.J. V Osterhout, is a good example of this… Continue Reading “Maybe Read This: Experiments with Plants, 6th Edition”
Can You Dig It? How Deep Soil Preparation and Structure Makes All the Difference to Your Plants
So, here’s another post about roots. This time, I want to talk about how deep soil preparation (double-digging) works to increase the health and yields of plants by giving them room to spread out. Did you know that the average carrot puts down an… Continue Reading “Can You Dig It? How Deep Soil Preparation and Structure Makes All the Difference to Your Plants”
Old Ways, New Farmers: How Native Wisdom Can Help Us Create a Better Future
Sustainability isn’t a new concept. For almost 50 years I have worked to create a form of agriculture that helps all people grow abundant nutritious food and fertile soil, in harmony with this beautiful earth. I know that I have been helped and… Continue Reading “Old Ways, New Farmers: How Native Wisdom Can Help Us Create a Better Future”
Haybox: The 18th Century Slow Cooker
These days, everyone seems to have a slow cooker to make life easier. But guess what? There’s a simpler, less expensive alternative that’s been helping rural people cook food and conserve fuel for at least 200 years! According to Wikipedia, a haybox is a… Continue Reading “Haybox: The 18th Century Slow Cooker”
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